Fear (Gone #5) by Michael Grant

"Because fear wasn't about what made sense. Fear was about possibilities. Not things that happened. Things that might.” 


Blurb: It's been one year since all the adults disappeared. Gone.
Despite the hunger and the lies, even despite the plague, the kids of Perdido Beach are determined to survive. Creeping into the tenuous new world they've built, though, is perhaps the worst incarnation yet of the enemy known as the Darkness: fear.
Within the FAYZ, life breaks down while the Darkness takes over, literally—turning the dome-world of the FAYZ entirely black. In darkness, the worst fears of all emerge, and the cruelest of intentions are carried out. But even in their darkest moments, the inhabitants of the FAYZ maintain a will to survive and a desire to take care of the others in their ravaged band that endures, no matter what the cost.
Fear, Michael Grant's fifth book in the bestselling dystopian Gone series, will thrill readers . . . even as it terrifies them.

By the way, this review is mostly on what I thought of the series as a whole rather than just the fifth book, Fear. 

I'm going to be blunt. This series sucked... until Fear compensated for the first four books. I was mostly pissed off at the plot pacing. There's so much good stuff, but it's too spread out to maintain interest. If Grant kept the series to three or four books, I think it would have been even more successful. What we end up with are 4 books that dawdle on the details and one that explodes with character development, numerous climaxes and cliffhangers, enlightenment on a major aspect of the plot (world outside of the FAYZ) and too many twists to remember. I mean, the whole story idea is amazing. To have so many major characters without plot diminishment is unbelievable. In fact, by the end of the fifth book, they all were playing an important role of maintaining the diversity of the plot. But the fact is, I wasn't truly intrigued by the Gone series until the fifth book!

Long series like this one need to appeal to their audience from the very beginning. I hate to do this but let's compare Gone to HP. The reason for Harry Potter's success? It can't be relatable, young characters because Gone has that. A seemingly invincible villain that has a deep grudge with the protagonist? Gone has that. Powers that change your life? Gone has that. The big difference between GP and Gone is that Rowling saves conflict. Grant had the heros fighting the villans from the very start. If you've read HP, you know that the good wizards do not challenge Voldemort's followers in every book. In Gone, the most powerful kids have already fought each other multiple times throughout the series. Therefore, the concluding conflict scene will never be as thrilling as a scene where new powerful characters are introduced. Rowling cleverly kept the Voldemort situation afflicting but "at a distance." That way, readers always worried about the rising predicament, and could not predict outcomes of a final confrontation. By the third book, I was already bored of the Sam VS Caine or Drake scenes. **SPOILER: When Drake was finally defeated by Brianna, he didn't die. He got a whip arm. Then when Drake is killed by Caine, he comes back. Combined with Brittany to become almost immortal.** It seemed like Grant was running out of powerful antagonists so he had to bring one back from the dead...Which was lame and extremely frustrating.

Back to Fear: It was my favorite book in the series because there was more character development and less ranting about problems in the FAYZ. None of the previous four books were specific in mentioning the traits of the many characters. I didn't know much about their backgrounds or personalities. But when each character faced fear, their personal lives were shared with ease and came to love many of them that I first found annoying. Especially Astrid. Oh my goodness... I used to think that she was a stuck up, know-it-all bystander. But she's become one of my favorite characters. Strong-willed and selfless by the end! :O

The overall rating for the existing books in the series: 8/10
Rating for Fear: 9/10

"…death is better because death is the end of fear, isn’t it?"

2 comments:

  1. I'm so torn. I just read a review on this by bendavis and it was so different from yours! You guys both have amazing reviews by the way. Love them :) But one says it was horrible and one says it was good.. I'll just have to read it and see.

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    1. Kay, you better finish the books soon and write a review then :DD Can't wait to read it!

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